“Mud and more mud” was how Jeremy Hughes, site safety manager for SCI/SteelCon described job-site conditions at the General Motors Truck Light Duty Assembly Plant in Shreveport, LA, where contractors are doing the steel erection for a new stamping plant, material storage area and body shop.
Late November weather in Louisiana wasn’t kind to contractors. Heavy rains fell for long periods of time, and many construction projects like the new GM plant felt the effect.
“Once the rains stopped we were left with mud over 2 ft. deep in many areas, so there was just no way that we could drive a machine with tires around the site without getting stuck. Since most of our work is done overhead we use a lot of aerial work platforms, and the only way we could get them into a working position on the site was to tow them with a dozer or something similar. It was a time-consuming task that could take 25 minutes or more just to get the machine setup and leveled so it could be operated safely. Plus, it tied up another vehicle and operator so it cost us a lot more money to do the job,” Hughes said.
In addition to his duties, Hughes also is responsible for specifying and ordering the equipment needed by SCI/SteelCon workers on the job. In a meeting with Bruce Bloomingdale and John Saari, project managers of SCI/SteelCon, they discussed the problem of the muddy terrain and decided to investigate a new product that they had recently heard about.
JLG Industries of McConnellsburg, PA, had introduced telescoping boom units mounted on crawler chassis and these new machines seemed to be the ideal solution to overcome the muddy job-site conditions.
Following the meeting, Hughes contacted Clark Whittington of the local United Rentals branch in Shreveport, to find out more about the JLG crawler units and to see if he could get machines delivered to the site. SCI/SteelCon had already been working with United Rentals on the General Motors project, and currently had about a dozen JLG boom lifts on rent for use in areas already under roof where mud was not a problem.
Although the local Shreveport branch of United Rentals didn’t have any JLG crawler units on hand at the time, Whittington made a phone call to Alex Konick of the United Rentals Aerial Division and told him about his need. With one of the largest fleets of aerial work platforms in the world, United Rentals Aerial Division can get just about anything, for anybody, at any time. And this was no exception.
Even though there were some JLG crawler machines available in other United Rentals locations, Konick called the JLG factory to see about getting new crawler units shipped directly to Louisiana. Since United Rentals is constantly taking delivery of new equipment to maintain their fleet, Konick thought there might be some crawler machines about ready to ship. He was right. Within a short time after his phone call, a shipment of brand new JLG Model 600SC crawler machines were on their way to United Rentals’ Shreveport location for delivery to the customer’s job site.
Working together, the people in the local United Rentals branch and Tommy Clapp, area sales manager of United Rentals Aerial Division, were able to get the machines to their customer in about as much time as it would have taken if the machines were already sitting in the local branch’s yard.
When the JLG Model 600SC crawler machines were delivered to the General Motors site, SCI/SteelCon was able to put them to work immediately. Although they were a different type of machine, with tracks instead of tires, the machines’ control panel layout was essentially the same as the controls found on all of the other JLG machines that the company was currently using. The only difference was the steering that is unique to the crawler machine, which enables the machine to counter-rotate. All JLG 450, 600 and 800 Series machines feature the same unique single drive/steer joystick control so operators don’t waste valuable time having to learn how to use it in order to run a new machine each time a unit is delivered to the job site.
As the newly arrived machines were driven from the delivery truck to the work area they drew quite a crowd of interested onlookers — everyone wanted to see if they could really operate in the thick, deep mud. They weren’t disappointed — the JLG Model 600SC crawler machines took to the mud like a rubber wheeled machine takes to asphalt. Even with mud so deep in places that it completely covered the tracks, the JLG crawler machines were able to navigate the job site with ease.
Their 20-in. (51 cm) wide steel link tracks gave them a much larger footprint than the rubber wheeled machines, and provided better weight distribution with lower ground bearing pressure — only 5.45 lbs. (2.5 kg) per square inch versus around 60 psi (4.14 bar) on a comparable tired unit. Gradability increased 55 percent. The area of contact with the ground also provided better stability so that the machines could be operated safely over a larger work area.
With the new JLG 600SC crawler units on site, SCI/SteelCon was able to move, setup and position the telescoping boom and platform into position in about three to four minutes — a job that took around 30 minutes just a short while before. The contractor saved considerable time and it didn’t have to tie up another piece of equipment and operator.
Harvey Beard, senior general superintendent for Gilbane Company, the company responsible of overseeing and coordinating all construction on the General Motors project, was impressed by both the performance of the JLG Model 600SC crawler machines and the commitment by SCI/SteelCon to use the safest equipment available. “I appreciate having contractors like SCI/SteelCon on the site that put safety in front of everything else. Their idea to have the person responsible for job-site safety be the same person who is responsible for ordering the equipment needed to do the job is a good one. That way you can always be assured that the equipment they use matches the needs of the job, and it was ordered with safety in mind,” Beard said.
SCI/SteelCon uses telescoping boom lifts every day to lift workers overhead where they secure structural beams and trusses that have been moved into position with a crane. Because of the 60-ft. (18.3 m) platform height and almost 50-ft. (15 m) horizontal outreach capabilities of the JLG Model 600SC, workers can perform this function effectively from almost any nearby position. The use of these new machines was so successful that within two weeks of the first JLG Model 600SC crawler machines being delivered to the site, SCI/SteelCon rented additional units from Clark Whittington of United Rentals, and currently has eight JLG crawler machines working full time in addition to the other JLG machines the company has on site.
According to Whittington, “The relationship with United Rentals Aerial Division works out really great for a local branch like ours. When we need large amounts of equipment for a big job like this, we can continue to use the inventory we currently have on hand in our yard to supply our regular customers, and call United Rentals Aerial Division to help us with the equipment we need to service these larger jobs. Working with the Aerial Division also gives us more flexibility with pricing and delivery when large amounts of equipment are needed for a single location. And since the Aerial Division is continually purchasing new equipment, we are able to provide the latest innovations in aerial work platform design like these new JLG Model 600SC crawler booms.”
The use of aerial work platforms in construction applications like the General Motors Truck Light Duty Assembly Plant in Shreveport continues to grow at a rapid pace. Contractors the world over are seeing the benefits in both timesaving operation and increased worker safety. In the year 2000, JLG was the first American manufacturer to introduce a series of track mounted machines including the JLG Model 600SC mentioned here, the JLG Model 600SJC 60-ft. (18.3 m) crawler boom with articulating jib boom, and the JLG Model 660SJC 66 ft. (20 m) crawler boom with articulating jib.
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